Advocates for various Montgomery County earmarks speak out at budget hearing

NORRISTOWN — About a dozen people spoke during Thursday morning’s hearing on the county budget — all with pleas for the commissioners to reconsider zeroing out all earmarks — as indicated in the proposed 2013 general fund budget.

Murmurings of a jam-packed, standing-room-only representation inside the commissioners’ boardroom did not come to pass, though those that did speak offered touching appeals for the budget cuts to be reevaluated.

As reported in The Times Herald earlier in the week, several supporters of the ARC Alliance had planned to attend the public hearing, and did so, with all of them pushing for the county to reassess the $37,000 not coming to them in 2013, under the proposed budget.

“I’m very much concerned about this,” said Joe Bartlett, grandfather of an autistic girl and former member of the Upper Merion Board of Supervisors. “Because of some very special programs (ARC Alliance, among them), she was able to get into in the Upper Merion high school system, and she has done very well,” he said.

“The reason I hammer away at this … Montgomery County is interesting. Of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, Montgomery County ranks third in the number of autistic-related people in it. Because of that, obviously it deserves a lot of attention.”

The announcement of the proposed budget was made public on Nov. 15. It assumes $11.3 million in expenditures and $413.8 million in revenues. This budget is also the first instance in four years of Montgomery County Commissioners putting any sort of contribution to the pension fund.

But, according to commissioners’ Chairman Josh Shapiro, in order to balance the budget, something has to give.

Shapiro said the method of zero-based budgeting was how they were able to comprise a comprehensive plan for 2013, as opposed to the “fuzzy numbers” put out by the previous administration.

“The budget accurately reflects the true cost of delivering services to the citizens of Montgomery County,” he said.

“The budget eliminates earmarks — grants that were given to select nonprofits without specific connection to meeting county needs.”

As this is the commissioners’ first budget together, it is also making strides to begin to replenish the county’s fund balance. Previous administrators had borrowed from the fund, dropping it to below recommended levels for a good credit standing.

“I knew this day was going to come when we started down the road to excessive spending, excessive borrowing and excessive hiring of people we didn’t need, five years ago,” said Commissioner Bruce L. Castor, Jr.

“This is the result of those bad decisions and bad choices. The decisions we make politically and then governmentally, do not have their outcomes obvious until years later.”

Harvey Strauss is co-executive director of Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which is headquartered in Norristown. He told the commissioners his organization provides civil legal aid to low income residents in Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties. Its clients are typically the poor and vulnerable, those who are frail and elderly, disabled, victims of abuse, and people who cannot support themselves financially.

Commissioners are considering eliminating the $281,700 it received last year from the county.

Commissioners’ Vice Chairwoman Leslie Richards reassured members of the public that tackling the budget was no easy feat, and that public feedback at public hearings, such as Thursday’s, means a lot.

“As we saw in the last few years, the way the budget has been balanced was by dipping heavily into our general fund, and we just can’t afford to do that anymore,” she said.